Germovka Forge

Germovka Forge is the best preserved metalworking workshop in Tržič. It was built along the water chutes through which the water of Mošenik Brook is artificially channeled. Scythes, sickles, shovels, and other tools were made there.

Germovka Forge, located in the old metalworking part of the town, is a testament to the once highly developed metalworking trade in Tržič. The first nailmaking workshops operated here as far back as at the beginning of the 14th century. Numerous forges were located alongside Mošenik Brook, making use of the energy provided by the flow of the water, which they later also harnessed by means of water chutes. The forges were divided into workshops for the production of sickles and scythes and workshops for the production of tools such as axes, garden forks, hoes, shovels. etc.

Germovka is one of the two oldest producers of scythes in Tržič. It burned down in the massive fire of 1811 and was later reconstructed inkeeping with its orginal appearance; it is the only one of the once numerous forges and blast furnaces to be preserved after the fire. It operated up until the mid-20th century; in the last few decades of its operation primarily garden tools were manufactured there.

In the blacksmith's workshop the old forges, bellows, power hammer and some other equipment are preserved. On display in a smaller space, the grindery, is a nicely preserved grindstone with a very rare manner of wetting, powered by a wheel.